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2 Sheets-Sheet 1 D H CROSSER METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR MAKING ARTIFICIAL snow Filed Nov. 12, 1945 March 20, 1945.

March 20, 1945.

D. H. CROSSER METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR MAKING ARTIFICIAL SNOW Filed NOV. 12, 1943 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Mar. 20, 1945 METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR MAKING l ARTIFICIAL sNoW v David I-I. Crosser, hicago, Ill. Application November 12 19.43, Serial Noi510,079,

6 Claims.

Powdered soap or soap flakes can be mixed with water and beaten into a light, fluffy mass which, upon drying, is very light and porous and structurally strong. Not only is the material light in weight butit is as white as snow and makes an admirable artificial show when divided into small masses and dried. l

The object of the present invention is to enable anyone to create great numbers of such ,little masses, quickly and easily,.and to apply themjin a wet state, .haphazardly and without being constrainedin any way after being created, to an object to be decorated.

Incarrying out my invention, I place a large mass of the fluffy material in a bag or the like I having a stiff, perforated part through Whichthe material may be extruded. The bag lS then squeezed to causethe flufiysoap toexude at the perforations. After the soaphas been extruded to the desiredextent the little protruding masses :2

. are separated from the main body and areihurled toward their destinations.

The various features of novelty whereby my invention is characterized will hereinafter be pointed out with particularity in theclaims; but, i

- away and the striker being shown in two posi tions, in full and broken linearespectivelyyFig. 2 is aview looking at the ,up'lperend of the device, as it appears in Fig. 1, from a point towardthe right thereof; Fig. 3 is a view, on a {larger "scale,

apply them; effectively -to,a Christmas tree or other object. This problem Lhave solved by finding that after littleplugs of soapy material have beenextruded'they may-simultaneously be separated from the receptacleandstartedon their way by striking .a sharp blow against the receptacle. The cross sectional areas andshapes of the plugs depends on the sizes and shapes of the perforations which. of course, arefixed, but the lengths ofathe lugs may be varied atwill.

Asimple-form-of apparatus for carrying out my invention comprises acupashapedreceptacle such as indicated at l in Figs. 1 to 6; the .bottom of the receptacle containing numerous holes 2. Good results have been obtained with holes a that are about 1%" square, round holes'about /4" in diameter, and triangular holes thelsides of which measure about 44. .A mixture of holes of differ' ent sizesandshapes permits a veryxnatural snow efiect to be achieved. In order that a large quan- .tity ofsnow may be maderfrom asingle batch of soap material, I attach :to-theopen end of the receptacle' along flexible sleeve .3 of cloth or other suitable material.

either bygripping it one hand, or otherwise;

i and thesleeve isthensqueezed, as in the case of a tube of toothpaste, untilplugs or strings of soap exude from the'bottom Ofthe receptacle. 1 A sharp blow isthen struck against the "side of the recepof the stiff receptacle that is atthetopin Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a section on line 4-4 of Fig. 3; Figs. 5 and 6 are views like Fig. 1, showing only the stiff receptacle, some soapy material having been extruded in Fig. 5 andthe extruded little masses having been discharged in Fig. 6; Fig. 7 and Fig. 8 are views corresponding to Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, re-

spectively, illustrating another form of the in l vention; Fig. 9 is a top plan'viewof the device appearing in Fig. '7, the flexible sleeve or bag being omitted; Fig. 10 is a section on line Ill-H1 of Fig. '7; and Figs. 11 and 12 are sections, on a trude soapy material of the desired consistency through perforations in the bottom of a can or other receptacle, it is quite another matter to secure little masses that look like snowflakes and table, causing the extruded little soap 1 masses, indicated -at B in Fig. 5, to be severed from the main mass A and to be iflung or hurled away as indicated in Fig. 6. By holding-the device were. part of aChristmas tree, lforexample, and at some distancetherefrom, at the-time a blowis struck, the rudimentary artiflcialsnow flakes will be distributed nicely, either thickly'or sparsely, as desired. When the littleysoa-p masses land, they flow more or less, causing'them partially to surround the twigs on which-they are to'remain and 'to droop so as tobearlittle resemblance to the shapes which they originally had. After one group of extrudedportions has been discharged,

the sleeve orbag may immediately be given another squeeze and the process of extrusion and delivery be repeated. In a very short time a wholeChristmastree may be covered with a noninflammable artificialsnow'which, upon drying, is

sufficiently firm to .endure without .detrioration throughout the holiday season. y

The ,operationpf.thedevice is made easier by providing the device with a suitable handle for holding it positively and firmly in any desired 9 position at the time of ejecting the rudimentary artificialfflakes. In the arrangement shown,

ing axially of the device from the bottom of the receptacle through the sleeve and projecting beyond the free end of the latter to provide a hand hold. The stick and they receptacle may be fastened together by a screw passing through the bottom of the latter and into the stick. While the required blows may be struck by the is being squeezed, the size of the extruded masses hand or by some object held in the hand for 7 that purpose, it will usually be found to be advantageous to mount a suitable striker on the device. In the arrangement shown, I provide a hammer member 6, pivotally mounted on ears 7 on the side of the receptacle for rocking moveor finger is pressed against the tail end of the hammer to swingthe head away from the receptacle as indicated in broken lines in Fig. 1, the

tension in the spring is increased. Therefore, when the hammer is released, the head thereof is driven sharply against the side of the receptacle. With this construction the user need simply fill the device, tie the sleeve-shut with a string 9, to close its free end, and then may proceed to make artificial snow as rapidly as he can alternately squeeze the sleeve and snap the hammer.

In Figs. 7 to 12 the additions to the basic combination of the perforated receptacle and flexible sleeve or bag are somewhat different from those just described. The handle, for example, is a wire member bent into the form of a ring it] engaged with the bottom of the receptacle and secured thereto by soldering or otherwise. The two ends of the-wire are bent outwardly to produce two radial legs II that are entered into one end of a suitable handle l2 to be gripped in ones hand.

All of the holes l4 lie on one side of a diameter of the receptacle bottom. 'Within the receptacle is a vane or flap [5 hinged to a little bracket I 6 fastened to the unperforated half of the receptacle bottom. A'springil tends constantlyto hold the vane or flap against the'inner face of the perforated portion of the receptacle bottom. The: cylindrical wall of the receptacle contains a longitudinal slot l8 through which extends a finger piece I9, fixed to the vane or flap. The

vane or fiap contains holes that are staggered with respect to theholes I l.

With this constructiomthe device being-filled with the soap material, the user takes hold of the handle and, with his thumb, presses the finger piece l9 from the position indicated in Fig. 7 or Fig. 12 into that shown in Fig.'11, thereby uncovering the holes in the bottom of the receptacle. Then, when the sleeve is squeezed, soap material is pushed out of the latter holes, if that is desired. When the. finger piece is released, the vane or flap snaps against the bottom of the receptacle, hurling the extruded small soap masses away from the device. In moving toward the bottom of the receptacle the v'ane or flap drives some of the soap ahead of it and thus causes larger masses to be extruded than those resulting solely from the squeezing of the sleeve.

If the fiap is allowed to rest against the bottom of the receptacle while the sleeve is squeezed merely to insure that the receptacle is filled, the subsequent operation and release of the finger may be varied within wide limits.

While I have illustrated and described with particularity only a few of the many possible modifications of my invention, I do not desire to be limited to the exact structural details thus illustrated and described; but intend to cover all methods, forms and arrangements which come within the definitions of my invention constituting the appended claims.

'I claim:

1. The method of producing and applying artificial snow which consists in forming a damp, fluffy mass of soap, forcing the soap into a stiif receptacle having a wall provided with numerous perforations to extrude it through the perforations, and then striking a sharp blow against the receptacle to jar all of the extruded small masses of soap loose and cause them to be driven away from the receptacle and scattered.

2. A device for producing artificial snow from soap, comprising a stiff open-top receptacle having a perforated bottom, a long flexible sleeve secured to the open end of the receptacle and forming an extension thereof, a handle attached to the receptacle and serving to support the device when grippedby a user in operating the device, and means to strike the receptacle to jar the same and cause all extruded masses of soap to be broken off simultaneously and to be driven away from the perforated bottom of the receptacle.

3. A device for producing artificial snow from soap, comprising an open-top receptacle having a perforated bottom, a. long-flexible sleeve secured to the open end of the receptacle and constituting an extension thereof, a handle attached to the receptacle and serving to support the device when gripped by a user in the operation of the device, and a spring-actuated striker on the receptacle to cause small soap masses extruded through the perforations in the bottom of the receptacle to be separated from the receptacle and driven off when the striker is drawn back and released.

4. A device as set forth in claim 3, in which the striker is in the form of a fiap located within the receptacle and supported for swinging movements from and toward the bottom of the receptacle.

5. A device as set forth in claim 3, in which the striker is located on the outside of the receptacle and is adapted to strike blows against the side of the latter.

stituting an extension thereof, a rigid handle secured to the receptacle and extending therefrom through the sleeve and beyond the free end of the latter, and a spring-pressed striker on the outside wall of the receptacle;

DAVID H. CROSSElR. 

